Friday, November 15, 2013

OSHA schedules public meeting on proposed rule to improve tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses

WASHINGTON – The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration has scheduled a public meeting to allow
interested parties to comment on the proposed rule to improve tracking
of workplace injuries and illnesses. OSHA's proposed rule amends its
current recordkeeping regulations to add requirements for the electronic
submission of injury and illness information employers are already
required to keep under existing standards, Part 1904.

The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington,
D.C. Requests to attend or speak at the meeting may be submitted
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov,
the Federal eRulemaking Portal or by mail or facsimile. The deadline
to request to attend the meeting as a speaker or observer is Friday,
Dec. 13, 2013. See the Federal Register notice for more details.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful
workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these
conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing
standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more
information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

WASHINGTON
– The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today issued a
proposed rule to improve workplace safety and health through improved
tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses. The announcement follows
the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of its annual Occupational
Injuries and Illnesses report, which estimates that three million
workers were injured on the job in 2012.

"Three million injuries are three million too many," said Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David
Michaels. "With the changes being proposed in this rule, employers,
employees, the government and researchers will have better access to
data that will encourage earlier abatement of hazards and result in
improved programs to reduce workplace hazards and prevent injuries,
illnesses and fatalities. The proposal does not add any new requirement
to keep records; it only modifies an employer's obligation to transmit
these records to OSHA."

The public will have 90 days, through Feb. 6, 2014, to submit written
comments on the proposed rule. On Jan. 9, 2014, OSHA will hold a public
meeting on the proposed rule in Washington, D.C. A Federal Register
notice announcing the public meeting will be published shortly.

The proposed rule was developed following a series of stakeholder
meetings in 2010 to help OSHA gather information about electronic
submission of establishment-specific injury and illness data. OSHA is
proposing to amend its current recordkeeping regulations to add
requirements for the electronic submission of injury and illness
information employers are already required to keep under existing
standards, Part 1904. The first proposed new requirement is for
establishments with more than 250 employees (and who are already
required to keep records) to electronically submit the records on a
quarterly basis to OSHA.

OSHA is also proposing that establishments with 20 or more employees, in
certain industries with high injury and illness rates, be required to
submit electronically only their summary of work-related injuries and
illnesses to OSHA once a year. Currently, many such firms report this
information to OSHA under OSHA's Data Initiative.

OSHA plans to eventually post the data online, as encouraged by President Obama's Open Government Initiative.
Timely, establishment-specific injury and illness data will help OSHA
target its compliance assistance and enforcement resources more
effectively by identifying workplaces where workers are at greater risk,
and enable employers to compare their injury rates with others in the
same industry.